Twite
Linaria flavirostris
Stout little streaky brownish finch of open, often barren spaces. Easily overlooked. Note warm buffy tones (especially in autumn–winter) and pale bill (grayish in summer, yellowish in winter). Male has distinctive pale pink rump, usually covered by wings when perched. Wide range, from Western Europe to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Compare with other small streaky finches in areas of overlap. Like other finches, often forms flocks in autumn and winter. Listen for nasal twitters and chirrups.
Identification
The twite is similar in size and shape to a linnet, at 13 to 13.5 cm (5.1 to 5.3 in) long. It lacks the red head patch and breast shown by the linnet and the redpolls. It is brown streaked with black above, and a pink rump. The underparts are buff to whitish, streaked with brown. The conical bill is yellow in winter and grey in summer. The call is a distinctive twit, from which its name derives, and the song contains fast trills and twitters. Twites can form large flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes mixed with other finches on coasts and salt marshes. They feed mainly on seeds.
Taxonomy
In 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the twite in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla flavirostris. The genus name linaria is the Latin for a linen-weaver, from linum, "flax" and flavirostris means "yellow-billed". The twite and the closely related linnets were at one time placed in the genus Carduelis but were moved to a separate genus Linaria based on a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences that was published in 2012.<p>There are 10 recognised subspecies:
- Scientific name
- Linaria flavirostris
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Genus
- Linaria
Range and habitat
Breeding range: PAL : low Arctic to temperate nw and montane c Palearctic in open areas: n, c British Is., w, n Scandinavia; disjunctly Caucasus and sc, ne Turkey e through sc Russia, n Kazakhstan, n, w Xinjiang (nw China) and Mongolia, in s nw Iran, c Afghanistan through Altai region, nw Himalayas e to Nepal and Tibet to Qinghai and Gansu (nc China). Non-breeding range: to lower elevations and southward.
- Breeding range
- PAL : low Arctic to temperate nw and montane c Palearctic in open areas: n, c British Is., w, n Scandinavia; disjunctly Caucasus and sc, ne Turkey e through sc Russia, n Kazakhstan, n, w Xinjiang (nw China) and Mongolia, in s nw Iran, c Afghanistan through Altai region, nw Himalayas e to Nepal and Tibet to Qinghai and Gansu (nc China)
- Non-breeding range
- to lower elevations and southward
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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